Watch a Speeding Freight Train Wallop a Texas Deputy Who Drove Past Railroad Gates
In a battle between a car and a train, the car will always lose. Thankfully, the driver escaped with minor injuries.
Level train crossings are some of the most dangerous intersections. It’s almost become a weekly occurrence where we’re writing about some unsuspecting driver deciding they’ve waited long enough and either pay no heed to the flashing lights or go around the lackluster barriers and are rammed by an oncoming freight train. In the battle between a 2-ton car and a 120-ton freight train, the train will always come out on top. An unfortunate reality a Texas Deputy learned this week.
According to Your Basin, a local news outlet in Texas, a Midland County Sheriff’s Deputy believed they were alright to proceed through a level train crossing only to be struck by an oncoming train. The collision was captured by Andrea Hood-Brumfield’s dash camera and sees two police Suburbans attempting to cross the train tracks after one freight train passes by. Unbeknownst to the two police cars, a second freight train was moving along the opposite tracks.
Watching the video, the Sheriff’s Deputy never saw it coming—a common theme among this sort of collision. At the point of impact, the Deputy’s Suburban is sent crashing sideways from the force of the train. The police cruiser is dragged by the train for a number of yards, digs into the ground, and flips end-over-end until it comes to a halt on its side. A second video from the opposite side of the street shows more of the carnage after the initial impact more clearly.
A local ABC News affiliate stated that two Sheriff’s cruisers were waiting to speed off to assist a report of a child that couldn’t breathe and in their rush missed the second train. Luckily, the Deputy is expected to make a full recovery after escaping the collision with only minor injuries according to Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter.
Train collisions with cars have slowly been in decline since the 1980s. However, each year, the United States sees on average of 2,000-plus collisions between the two modes of transportation, many of which happen at poorly defined and constructed level train crossings. Of those 2,000-plus collisions, 800 or so lead to fatalities. We’re glad this wasn’t one of them.
